Ord's new viv design and build

[gunkle]

So I got the lights and the doors mounted. Thermostat, and thermometers installed and a first run to check and adjust temps. So far so good.

At first I thought the doors would be ugly but I'm kinda liking it now. Very minimal and not distracting from the cage. Temps are holding at 108.7 at the basking spot and 86 at the bottom of the ramp. If he needs to cool more i'm sure under the basking spot will be even cooler. gonna let it run a few days before switching him over.

 

[Bushmaster11B]

Nicely done Bro. If you need the cooler side temp down more, you can always buy one of these for about $5 at walmart:

 

[gunkle]

The basking spot light and the ceramic element are wired in separately even though they are on the same fixture. The spot light and the UVB bulb are on a timer. I have the ceramic heat element over the cool side connected to a thermostat to help maintain the temp on the cool side and in the cage as a whole at night. I can adjust the temp on that side by adjusting the dial on the thermostat. Thanks for the idea though. I still need to close in the stand so that much is still a work in progress but this way I can start using it in a day or two after some last minute tweaking with the lights. I have found that the area under the UVB bulb is at 108 but the area right at the crest of the ramp to the basking spot is 120. Need to move some lights a little and see what happens. Right now I am testing to see if the ceramic element can maintain the temps at night so it doesn't get too cold.

 

[gunkle]

The temps seem to be holding good so I figured I'd see what Ord thought. I put him at the bottom of the ramp and a few waxworms at the top and he just about flew up it. doesn't seem to be any problem climbing.

 

[Bushmaster11B]

Your CHE should do the trick. I have mine set at 72 degrees on a ZooMed Thermostat. It's a 75W CHE I believe and my house is a consistent 62-64 degrees with A/C blowing all day long (I live in apartments and surrounded by old people that freeze to death even in the summer, they crank their heat up and it makes my apartment hot). Anyhow, those CHE are capable of cranking more heat than needed if you want. My enclosure is a 48"W x 22"D x 20"H just to give you an idea. Plus, you can angle that CHE more to the middle to get an equal radiated heat. If you can get it to 75 in the middle, the sides should hold at or around 68-70 degrees according to my experience.

Glad the ramp worked out, it looks great.

BTW, Ord looks real good and I take it, he is a strong eater too?

 

[gunkle]

BTW, Ord looks real good and I take it, he is a strong eater too?

HAHA yeah you can say strong eater.... He is a damn pig. I call him fatzo more then Ord. He puts the roaches away like its his last meal. Had to buy crickets this week cause I didn't order roaches in time for delivery and he ate 50 large plus some greens and wax worms in one day. He is eating the almost adult sized roaches. At the end of July when we got him he was just under 6" now he is over 16". He did just eat a bunch of crickets and some worms about 10 min before these last pictures were taken. I keep the house at 64 during the winter to save some on oil so that is my main concern with heating and why I built this cage now instead of when he outgrew his old one.

Now I have a full setup cage and nothing in it. The wife is already looking at other lizards to fill it with. I told her she needs to wait till spring and we can talk about it.

 

[Bushmaster11B]

Yeah I got mine the same time you did and Aries is just now pushing 17". He eats 1 1/4" Dubias like they are in a food buffet contest or something. Not so much greens but I do gut load my Dubias with squash and collard greens. Plus I dust every day unlike the normal 5 times per week since he gets about 6 wax worms and 10 mealworms a day too. Miniature grapes are by far his favorite treat. Talk about a sugar rush for BD's. He only gets about 4-5 mini grapes per 2 days (1 day on, 1 day off). Oh and he has found Papaya to be a good staple fruit as well. If I was on crickets still, I would be spending $75 a month. LOL. But he loves them too which is good if I run out of Dubias.

 

[gunkle]

Haven't measured him in about 2 weeks so probably around 17 by now. Havent tried too much fruit yet but I give him mustard, collard greens and dandelion leaves dayly. Today he really went nuts for the greens. I give all greens plus oranges and carrots to both my roach colony bin and feeder bin regularly since the greens are cheap and Ord doesn't finish them before they go bad so might as well use them up on the roaches instead of throwing them away. how do you prep the squash? I bought some once but it went bad before I got around to looking into what to do with it. Haven't fed him mealworms but he goes nuts for Hornworms and Phoenix worms. I like the Hornworms better since I get to watch them grow with my 4 yr old daughter. She Loves watching Ord eat the worms the best.

Oh yeah I threw another digital thermometer under the basking area in the shadow to see the temps and they are steady at 78

 

[Bflobeardie]

Nice vivi

 

[Bushmaster11B]

how do you prep the squash? I bought some once but it went bad before I got around to looking into what to do with it. Haven't fed him mealworms but he goes nuts for Hornworms and Phoenix worms. I like the Hornworms better since I get to watch them grow with my 4 yr old daughter. She Loves watching Ord eat the worms the best.

Oh yeah I threw another digital thermometer under the basking area in the shadow to see the temps and they are steady at 78

The squash I found best way served is to steam it. I use Acorn and Butternut Squash mixed together. It turns it into a goo and Aries loves it. I usually mix it with 50% of his Collard Greens. Great temps under the platform. I'm sure that tile insulates/shields it well.

 

[gunkle]

Nice vivi

Thanks. Hope to start finishing the stand in a few weeks.

 

[gunkle]

The squash I found best way served is to steam it. I use Acorn and Butternut Squash mixed together. It turns it into a goo and Aries loves it. I usually mix it with 50% of his Collard Greens. Great temps under the platform. I'm sure that tile insulates/shields it well.

Here's a dumb question. .. How do you steam squash? I really no nothing about vegetables

 

[Bushmaster11B]

Can't wait to see it!

 

[Bushmaster11B]

Try this: http://mideastfood.about.com/od/tipsandtechniques/a/steaming.htm

 

[gunkle]

Try this: http://mideastfood.about.com/od/tipsandtechniques/a/steaming.htm

I bookmarked it. Gonna try some raw squash first if that doesn't work I will give steaming a try.

Added a log that I had put in his old cage but he instantly got stress marks with it. Now he loves it and sleeps on it the last few nights.

I need to find some that are more to scale with this mansion.

 

[Bushmaster11B]

I love the Pyrex feeder bowl… Yeah you may need something much larger in this enclosure. Are you going to put slate on the bottom?

 

[gunkle]

Thought you might like that. Got tired of watching him bash his face against it though so I taped it. Not the brightest

 

[gunkle]

Not sure if I'm gonna leave the wood or use tile

 

[Bushmaster11B]

The voices in your head are saying, "Use tile"…. LOL, listen to them

 

[gunkle]

Damn. . . You know about the voices. ...